What are you interested in, as far as story ideas are concerned?
20 Minutes into the Future. The viewpoint characters are engineers, both extremely white-collar, theoretical types.
Actually I could write anything, even a Magical Girl story. I just want it for the challenge. (The rules of the current writing contest are too vague for me, I need something more restrictive... there's too many possiblities, I need somewhere to anchor). The best would be to write a story in a genre I've never read, only knowing a list of the typical tropes of the genre without being familiar with the actual examples. Which is why I suggested Magical Girl stories, I've just never watched one besides Madoka, save for a couple of isolated episodes of Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura.
An action is not virtuous merely because it is unpleasant to do.
Eye'm the cutest!
Magical pixie vampires from Cleveland who pilot interdimensional starships and the adventures they go through.
edited 17th Sep '11 4:33:58 PM by MajorTom
"Allah may guide their bullets, but Jesus helps those who aim down the sights."
How about something simple and realistic?
A boy is entrusted by a elderly person to deliver a package to the other side of the city. Along the way, the boy runs into many different people and experiences many incidents.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
What is a pixie? You mean like that girl from Twilight with the "pixie haircut"? The one that can predict the future?
And that's just a premise, I want a plot. Something with a beginning, a middle and an end. I can insert filler or loyalty missions or whatever, but I need a skeleton. Even if I mutilate it later.
Oh. I am having trouble coming up with stuff that isn't sort of like Momo or The Little Prince. Perhaps a central theme or An Aesop might help me focus...
edited 17th Sep '11 4:38:32 PM by JesusSaves
An action is not virtuous merely because it is unpleasant to do.
What's stopping you from thinking up your own plot? You don't have to get it all in one shot, you know. Think up a skeleton and adjust as you go.
Or just start writing and see where it takes you.
It's just that I keep shooting myself down as I come up with stuff... As in "Idea X" "Eh, that's dumb" takes some time to com with something "Idea Y!" "dumb too" etc. with longer and longer intervals and soon I just give up. But this stops happening as soon as I start writing and get caught in the moment. I've tried to recycle plots from the Brother Grimm stories, but they're just plain idiotic: their Dead Horse Tropes are not so much dead as being part of the ground and indistinguishable from it!
An action is not virtuous merely because it is unpleasant to do.
Why don't you do a deconstruction of the fairy tales, then? That might help you find them less idiotic.
edited 17th Sep '11 4:57:15 PM by tropetown
It's too easy. A king drops three feathers and his three sons must set off in the directions of the feathers to get their father the best X, except the moronic son's feather falls to the ground... next to a hidden trapdoor that leads to a giant frog that gives him the best possible item for free? And he does that three times and gets the throne and rules wisely? I- where to even start? This story breaks willing suspension of disbelief so hard... But I see where you are going with this... hmm...
Pick the simplest plot you can think of and follow through with it. Start with short stories. We're not going to tear a beginning writer's work to shreds just for being simple. Hell, we won't tear apart an established writer's plot for not being convoluted, so long as it's enjoyable enough.
However, you will never be able to respect yourself or progress as a writer if you keep depending on others to push you off, and neither will any reader.
edited 17th Sep '11 5:15:57 PM by Leradny
I dunno, Balzac wrote tons of commercial novels with whatever was "hot" at the moment at the beginning of his career, and he still turned out to be an amazing writer once he found out what he wanted to write about, the rest beign warmups.
EDIT: BALZAC AIN'T GOT NO PAGE?!
edited 17th Sep '11 5:24:37 PM by JesusSaves
An action is not virtuous merely because it is unpleasant to do.
Little Laguz
Guy meets girl - girl turns out to be a guy - guy doesn't care that girl is a guy - turns out that girl wasn't a guy she was still a girl but is actually a ghost - guy still doesn't care - guy then kills himself to be with ghost girl properly.
I have no idea, I just went from the first thing that popped up in my head when I hit reply.
The only reason why I like waking up is because I like falling asleep.
See ALL the stars!
I'd argue that sucessfully writing, "Guy meets girl, they meet under a silvery moon, moon then explodes for no adequetley explored reason" would be interesting.
Da Rules excuse all the inaccuracy in the world. Listen to them, not me.
1: Stop using tropes to describe things. It's a subtler crutch than asking people to do your work, but a crutch nonetheless. Complete, specific sentences which are accessible to non-tropers are your friend.
2: I have no idea whose name you dropped. Sincerely, he sounds extraordinary. But I do know that you are not him, and most likely not extraordinary yet. So don't think that you can just follow his example and everything will be peachy. The first thing people think of when a new writer asks "Give me a plot" is not "LIKE THAT DUDE YEAH". It's "Man that person is lazy."
I changed accounts.
I'm going to go to a fan convention when you're famous, Tom, and spring this on you as a prompt when you've forgotten about it.
And it shall be written. 
Simple plot requirements:
- A character (optional)
- A setting
- A deadline or goal (also optional)
You'll notice that, of these three requirements, only one is actually a "requirement," so start with that one and see where it goes.
I like to start off a story like this: "I like [Genre X] and [Story Y in Genre X], so I'll do a deconstruction/reconstruction/Decon-Recon Switch/some other form of playing with tropes to it, and see what I get out of it."
This won't work for everyone, but it is a start...
I am now known as Flyboy.
I think it's not a very good idea to try using tropes to approximate a story of a genre you've never read. Unless you're already a skilled writer, but seeing as you made a thread like this... Anyway, just write about whatever you're interested in at the moment. Or at least something you know about.
You'll get more helpful advice, I think, if you give us some of your plot ideas, instead of asking us to give you ideas for a plot. Doesn't matter if your plot is simple, we can always help you expand it. So tell us what kind of stories you're thinking of writing!
slice of lice
A guy/girl who needs help writing a story and asks for help on a forum but in turn gets way more than he/she asked for and then soon it devolves into some horrid 4th wall breaking blog format.
hurr
edited 18th Sep '11 5:23:57 AM by OuthouseInferno
Forget the tropes until after you're done.
Fledging Supervillian
Setting: Modern day, 201X, Nondescript American City, probably West coast
Characters: Main character: Ordinary College Student, Age 18-ish Is a member of the boxing club. Fairly good boxer, made champion in regional boxing tournament. Also a stereotypical hard partying, beer swilling college fratboy. May or may not hold deep emotional scars.
May also have a younger sister, whose relationship with can be either Siscon levels or could only barely stand being together.
Possible Twin brother, exact opposite personality (Ie, studious, computer club member, genius hacker, etc.)
Plot: MC gets lost in forest, attacked by monsters, saved by appearance of magical girl.
Expand from this.
edited 18th Sep '11 6:33:48 AM by CannonGerbil
ALL HAIL THE WARGERBIL!
Thank you. Do you (or anyone else here) want to be a beta reader?
Oh, and I am lazy. But, see, I've been critiquing another would-be author for a while, and their extreme tendency to procrastinate and look for lame excuses not to get anything done no matter how much resources I put at ther disposal terrorized me into thinking I might end up with the same fate. So, I am not afraid of appearing to be who I am: I take shortcuts, but at least I do get walking.
edited 18th Sep '11 7:15:40 AM by JesusSaves
An action is not virtuous merely because it is unpleasant to do.
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
I'm pretty sure you could get one in one of those dark alleys.
Oh wait, you are talking about PLOT!
How about an Urban Fantasy that involves an everyman who realize a bits of his memory is missing and while tracking that bit down, discovers that it was caused by a magician mindraping him?
I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.
Eye'm the cutest!
And it shall be written.
Fair enough, I don't mind writing such a Widget Series.
"Allah may guide their bullets, but Jesus helps those who aim down the sights."
That'd be a very interesting Potterverse fic, for example. To muggles, Wizards must be truly terrifying. And I don't think a muggle with a shotgun would easily win against a wizard: those guys can turn invisible, teleport spam, summon animals... A muggles vs wizards fight would be tough to do... but I'm certain lots of fanfics have done that before.
...A plan is beginning to form from the primordial soup in me head... But should I make it an actual fanfic and post it on fanfiction.net... or should I write an original work that uses the Potterverse with Serial Numbers Filed Off?
Oh, and Balzac
was a commercial writer from the XI Xth century, more or less on the same level as Alexandre Dumas. Both were specialists of the Dan Browned, and wrote books that started very dull and then got more and more intense as the climax approached. There's a lot more to say about them and how the tricks of their era might or might not work in ours.
And yes, thinking in tropes is useful for critiquing, but pretty terrible for writing: the sheer number of examples is paralyzing. The See The Index pages can be a nightmare in this sense.
Hey, it could be written straight, you know? Wouldn't be the first Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot, and vampires have been known for Raising the Steaks.
edited 18th Sep '11 7:29:08 AM by JesusSaves
An action is not virtuous merely because it is unpleasant to do.
I changed accounts.
But can you do it without making it a Slice of Life story (which is what it would immediately seem suited to to me)? 
Please, anyone, I just need one skeleton of a plot to get going. Just give me something to start with, even if the final result is nothing like the original.
An action is not virtuous merely because it is unpleasant to do.